1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dimmer switches and, more particularly, relates to light sensitive dimmer switches which may be employed in various lighting applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that lighting plays an important role, particularly in residential settings, in providing safety and security for both persons and personal property within a particular residence. For instance, a homeowner or resident may leave his home during the daylight hours and not return until after dark. Unless the person leaves a light on before leaving his residence, a practice which wastes electricity (and, therefore, money), that person will return home to a dark and, consequently, potentially dangerous dwelling. Not only may the returning homeowner damage his personal property while attempting to locate and turn on a light switch but, in addition, the person may fall and injury himself in the process. Even more foreboding is the possibility that an intruder may be lurking in the darkness, waiting to attack the unsuspecting homeowner.
Another situation which poses a more direct hazard to a homeowner's personal property occurs when the homeowner goes away on vacation for several days. It is commonly known that burglars will case out a target residence for several days prior to actually burglarizing the home. It will quickly become apparent to the burglar that the homeowner is away when he sees no lights on in the residence over the course of consecutive nights.
Attempts to combat these potentially harmful situations have included the use of mechanical timers to control the turning on and off of light fixtures within the residence. However, mechanical timers suffer from many disadvantages. For instance, homeowners who are not particularly mechanically inclined find the actual setting of the timers to present insurmountable difficulty. The person fortunate enough to be able to set the timers properly is then left with the possibility that the timers, many of which are poorly constructed, will not perform their operation properly. Also, it can be understood that the sight of a rather large timer protruding from a power outlet may not be aesthetically pleasing to the homeowner.
However, even if the mechanical timers function properly, another disadvantage associated with their use is that they only have the potential to completely turn on or completely turn off the light fixtures which they are controlling. This is a disadvantage in that lighting conditions may warrant the need to have some level of light present during daylight hours. For instance, extremely stormy weather may possibly present nighttime-like or, at least, dusk-like lighting conditions during the middle of the day. Therefore, a homeowner with a mechanical timer set for six o'clock in the evening who is returning home in the middle of the day would be faced with the same potential hazards discussed above.
Nonetheless, despite the waste of electricity associated with leaving a light on or using the potentially unreliable mechanical timers, such solutions to the problem suffer from at least one fundamental drawback, that is, they require continuous human intervention. The homeowner must remember to turn on the light before leaving during the day and if he makes use of timers, the homeowner must remember to reset the timers when lighting conditions change with the seasons or when the homeowners own schedule changes.